Industrial Revolution of the Mage Lords

Chapter 701 Floating Island No. 4
Ice Sea Base, Frontline Command Post.

Vaughn hunched over the sand table, holding up the battle reports he had just collected, and slowly replaced the dark red squares representing enemy-occupied areas on the map with yellow-green ones.

The areas cleared by the "Pest Control Project" do not mean that they can be immediately occupied by human armies... Even though the enemies entrenched there have been wiped out, it is still necessary to regularly dispatch air forces to keep an eye on them and prevent them from making a comeback.

On the vast, boundless ice and snowfields, there aren't many strategically valuable targets. All they can do is gradually compress the range of the Demon Lizardmen's activities, keeping them firmly confined to the vicinity of the estuary where the floating island fortress is located, preventing them from continuously deploying their deep-sea forces to the ground battlefield and expanding outwards.

In His Majesty's words, compressing the enemy's area of ​​operation is to create greater strategic depth for our side. As long as we firmly grasp air superiority and combine it with the gradual suppression of heavy firepower, we can eventually achieve the effect of completely controlling the battlefield situation. The enemy will no longer have the opportunity to monitor our side and can only huddle near the main fortresses of various floating islands, waiting to become "nails" that will be removed one by one.

This is very similar to the method of casting a net from a boat on an ice-covered river and then gradually pulling it in.

Vaughn straightened up, stroked his chin, and looked at the two remaining deep red spots on the sand table in front of him. He felt it was about time to "close the net".

……

Fire Child Phil Holden rushed into the command post and, before Vaughn could even greet him, said with a grim face, "At the Seventeenth Sea Mouth, in that foggy sea area that we've never been able to scout, there have been signs of Lizardmen activity again!"

"Oh?" Vaughn looked up in surprise. "The fourth floating island, which had been hidden all along, has finally revealed itself?"

The fire mage shook his head, pondered for a moment, and then slowly said, "It's strange. Logically speaking, the area covered by the hot fog near the estuary should only be about two or three miles in diameter. If the fourth floating island is really hiding there, the number of troops they store is definitely more than what we have observed so far..."

The reconnaissance airships responsible for monitoring the area flew around the vicinity of Haiyongkou almost every half hour. No matter how much noise they made, they could only attract the attention of a little over a thousand enemies from the sea of ​​fog. After the black lizardmen and winged beings rushed out of the fog, they were not in a hurry to retaliate against the airships. Instead, they merely patrolled the perimeter for a while before returning to the fog, which really puzzled the aerial combat mages who took turns going there.

"Could they be gathering strength, or... waiting for reinforcements?" Staff Officer Dickinson and Ross also gathered around, discussing the situation near the No. 17 estuary with Commander-in-Chief Vaughn.

"Judging from the current troop storage of Floating Island No. 2, even if Floating Island No. 4 is similar in size to Floating Island No. 3, which we sank in Big Bear Lake, it can still hold at least 10,000 enemies. This does not include the Conch Beasts that float up with the floating island, as well as the Blackwater Worms with long-range attack capabilities."

The Child of Flame frowned and couldn't help but retort, "If they really are small floating islands like No. 3, why don't they just approach the Great Bear Lake area again through the Abyss Waterway? That place is much closer to human settlements than the Ice Sea. They might even be able to launch a surprise attack on the Great Bear Lake base and cut off our retreat from the rear."

“Great Bear Lake is too far…” Vaughn clicked his tongue, picked up a ruler and gestured on the map. “Landing there would indeed be closer to human settlements and easier for them to advance on the ground… but similarly, being close to our base would also allow human reinforcements to arrive faster. In comparison, an enemy relying solely on a floating island as its main battle fortress is clearly at a disadvantage.”

The Lizardman's main consciousness had clearly absorbed enough information from the previous battles to aid its thinking, and naturally, it knew how to weigh the pros and cons and make a better choice.

Their primary objective at this stage is clearly to completely control the entire icy sea area, providing more sea outlets for amphibious operations and facilitating the continuous dispatch of reinforcements from the deep sea. In a sense, the icy sea base is also a "nail" firmly embedded in the ice field, urgently needing to be removed.

"After much discussion... the ultimate reason is still our limited intelligence gathering on the Seventeenth Sea Surge." The Son of Flame pressed his hand on the sand table map and suggested in a deep voice, "Commander, why don't you order a team of high-level spellcasters to explore the depths of the Fog Sea? I request to lead the team myself... we will definitely not return empty-handed!"

Vaughn's expression softened slightly, but before he could speak, a communications officer responsible for battlefield communication suddenly stood up, gripping the microphone tightly, and said in a trembling voice, "Commander... esteemed officers, an hour ago, the reconnaissance team that set off for the No. 17 Sea Surge sent back an urgent message: a large number of Demon Lizardmen's Conch Beasts have appeared in the Fog Sea!"

Seashell Beast?
"Who led the reconnaissance team?" Vaughn strode over to the communicator, grabbed the receiver, and immediately heard the voice of Stormwalker Matthews Willie, the adjutant of Fireborn's Son, Phil Holden, who assisted his old colleague in commanding hundreds of air mages on the front lines.

"Commander, ten minutes ago, my reconnaissance airship squadron arrived near the No. 17 sea estuary and immediately observed a large number of conch beasts emerging from the foggy sea. These enormous creatures seem to have received unified commands and are forming an orderly formation, slowly advancing towards the Ice Sea Base!"

Vaughn asked coldly, "And the numbers? How many Lizardmen troops are fighting alongside us?"

"Just by visual estimation, there are nearly a hundred conch beasts. Damn it... there are only about ten on the second floating island. How can there be so many here?"

"The number of their ground troops is unknown, and there aren't many winged beings in the air, but they have already spotted us and are attacking us at full speed."

Vaughn nodded and said in a calm tone, "Retreat and return to base quickly. There's no need to get entangled with them any longer."

The moment he put down the communicator, his command echoed throughout the entire command post—

"Attention all personnel! Enemy activity detected near the No. 17 estuary. The target is advancing towards the Ice Sea Base. Activate the defense alarm. All combat units, take up positions immediately and prepare for battle!"

The distance between the No. 17 estuary and the Ice Sea Base is about the same as that between the No. 2 floating island... If those few winged beings do not intend to break away from the main force and rush over to launch the first wave of attacks, given the speed at which the conch beasts slide on the ice, the earliest they can reach the early warning defense line of the Ice Sea Base will be nightfall.

Everyone present realized that tonight would likely be another fierce and hopeless battle.

However, they are now better prepared to fight the enemy than before.

(End of this chapter)